Emergency removals of children from their families are being weaponized in the United States
The Human Rights Defense Project is on a mission to put a stop to unlawfully separating families in the United States by focusing on bringing awareness to more sustainable and breakthrough solutions to understand trauma holistically in order to help parents and children, who often only need genuine resources and support, stay out of what is often referred to as the policing of low-income families.
It was also created to bring a greater understanding of the injustices related to family policing and the family policing regulation system, hoping to challenge the public narrative of the “child welfare system” in the U.S. as being solely benevolent and always acting in the best interest of children, which is rare. These cases are often unconstitutional and against international human rights standards set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
While self evident, the research is also clear: from innumerable studies, scholarly papers, and seminal books, including work from Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of the critically acclaimed book, The Body Keeps the Score; Gabor Maté, author of the equally critically acclaimed book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture; to Professor Dorothy Roberts of the University of Pennsylvania, author of the breakthrough book, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families; to Vincent Fellitti’s groundbreaking ACE’s study, there is more than enough academics, physicians, human rights lawyers, and other critical advocates who can substantiate that in almost all instances — families staying together is critical for the best interests of the child and the family as a whole — illustrating that keeping kin together decreases recidivism, generational involvement with family policing, and most importantly, if given genuine help, which is not readily accessible to all those who are affected yet, an increased awareness on how to address the root issues of the problems that will ultimately lead to less government involvement.
Currently, families are punished for the symptoms of long-standing trauma without a proper understanding on the part of state agencies on how to deal intelligently and compassionately in such crucial matters that are tearing apart the very fabric of American society, which the United States, at one time, prided itself on the importance of the family unit.
“Every life is a piece of art, put together with all means available.”
Legal Background:
The United States recognizes familial association rights as fundamental and constitutionally protected by the First Amendment. These rights, along with the right to family integrity protected by the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Ninth Amendment, protect familial relationships from unwarranted government intrusion.
Not only are these actions often against rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, these cases are often against international human rights law.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, has explicitly stressed that family separation should be a last resort.
"Given the gravity of the impact on the child of separation from his or her parents, such separation should only occur as a last resort measure, as when the child is in danger of experiencing imminent harm or when otherwise necessary; separation should not take place if less intrusive measures could protect the child."
The committee has made clear that poverty does not justify separating children from their parents, observing, "Before resorting to separation, the State should provide support to the parents in assuming their parental responsibilities, and restore or enhance the family's capacity to take care of the child, unless separation is necessary to protect the child. Economic reasons cannot be a justification for separating a child from his or her parents."
And yet, the U.S. child welfare system most often responds to circumstances of poverty with punishment, charging families with neglect and removing children from their parents instead of providing support to help keep families together.